Tugboat captain, shipping company

charged with negligence in fatal 2005

barge explosion
• By Tribune Staff Report
January 14, 2010

With the statute of limitations looming next week, federal authorities on Wednesday
indicted a tugboat captain and the Lemont company he worked for on negligence charges
in the 2005 barge explosion that killed a deckhand.

Dennis M. Egan, 32, of Topeka, Ill., and Egan Marine Corp. were each charged with one
count of negligence for allegedly allowing an open flame on the deck of a tanker barge
carrying slurry oil. They are also charged with negligently allowing oil to be discharged
into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a misdemeanor.

The company’s owner, Dennis Egan – whose nephew was piloting the tugboat Lisa E
when the barge it was pushing exploded near the Cicero Avenue bridge – reacted angrily
to the charges.

“Going after Dennis is ridiculous,” he said. “They should be giving him a medal. … He
landed that barge (when it was in flames).”

Authorities said the blast was likely caused when deckhand Alex Oliva, 29, at the alleged
direction of Egan Marina, illegally used a propane torch to warm a cargo pump.